No British dates?! Devastated

[AndrewHickey]

Wonder why the tax issues didn't seem to affect Brian's tours here?  Unless he was genuinely here purely for the fans?

If nothing else, there's only one Brian. Mike & Bruce had to license the Beach Boys name from BRI, paying Brian, Al and Carl's estate a cut, and this tour will have to pay BRI plus Bruce & David (who one hopes will get more than the relatively small amount Brian's backing band get). I imagine that that will make the margins for a Beach Boys tour far smaller than for a BW one - and we've heard before that Brian's tours don't actually make a profit (though someone said in another thread that that was only true of his US tours).

Conversely, Brian's management seem to care about prestige - they book him into only a select few venues, and presumably they'd rather lose money on a gig at the Royal Albert Hall than make money from playing Freeborn County Fair in rural Minnesota (to name a gig I know Mike & Bruce did last year because my in-laws went to it).

[Fall Breaks]

I'm just saying, I don't want to drive 4 f*cking hours to see them.

Is four hours of driving really that much to see the band you love reunite onstage for (probably) one last tour? Heck, I drove 500 miles in the summer of 2010 to see Mike and Bruce. And gas costs twice as much over here as it does in the States.

[The Shift]

I'm just saying, I don't want to drive 4 f*cking hours to see them.

Is four hours of driving really that much to see the band you love reunite onstage for (probably) one last tour? Heck, I drove 500 miles in the summer of 2010 to see Mike and Bruce. And gas costs twice as much over here as it does in the States.

Aye, c'mon Ron, I flew from Glasgow to LA in 2000 to see BW at the Hollywood Bowl, as I thought it was a one in a lifetime opportunity. Two years later Brian returned the compliment.

Put y'self out man!  This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Life expectancy in California is 80 years, so in a decade most of these guys might not be there to entertain us. Seize the day!

[Ram4]

I live in Charlotte... they're doing Atlanta, 4 hours south of me and HELL to drive to or visit, on one night... then the next night, they're doing Raliegh, which is 4 hours NORTH of me, and hell to drive to or visit. 

Now.  They then don't have anything for like 4 days. 

So I'm hoping, maybe they'll add in the Queen City and I can just go watch the show after work or something since it's right down the street.

I mean hey, why should I have to go to THEM, they should come to me!

You've got no excuse.  I've driven to/flown to concerts in Charlotte NC, Boulder CO, Hartford CT, Scranton PA, Peoria IL, Moline IL, Nashville TN, Fort Wayne IN, Las Vegas NV,  Indianapolis, and I live in Chicago!  4 hours is nothing.  Take a couple of days off and make an adventure of it and have FUN!  The memories truly last a lifetime.

[roll plymouth rock]

Kids in ethiophia can't see them either.  I'm just saying, I don't want to drive 4 f*cking hours to see them.  I want them to come to my city instead, it's a huge city and it's possible they may play here.

There's no way they won't play somewhere in England, they just haven't scheduled it yet.

Who the hell are you to call me an Ass?  Have we met?  Did I f*ck your sister or something?

Chill out man. We all want them to come to our city - congrats, you don't need to be a dick about it. And yeah, 4 hours is nothing. If that's stressing you out then I feel bad for you. I'm flying to a few shows on the tour and its going to take a lot longer than 4 hours in travel time, which I'm completely fine with.

[37!ws]

There is no way they are not going to the UK, not with how they, unlike the US, stood by them and still heavily bought their records after '67.

Heeeeyyyyyy now...I've lived in the US my whole life, and I ALWAYS bought their stuff after '67!

(And I mean that literally....I never bought a Beach Boys product until 1990.)

[Gdraft]

Any news about UK dates yet?

[TonyW]

I'm just saying, I don't want to drive 4 f*cking hours to see them.

Is four hours of driving really that much to see the band you love reunite onstage for (probably) one last tour? Heck, I drove 500 miles in the summer of 2010 to see Mike and Bruce. And gas costs twice as much over here as it does in the States.

Aye, c'mon Ron, I flew from Glasgow to LA in 2000 to see BW at the Hollywood Bowl, as I thought it was a one in a lifetime opportunity. Two years later Brian returned the compliment.

Ditto: I flew Bali, Indonesia to Chicago, arrived on the day of the concert to find the show wasn't actually in Chicago but about 3 hours outside the city so I paid a cab USD250 to take me there, wait and bring me back to the hotel in downtown Chicago .... and it was worth every cent!

Just get in the car and drive ... it's not like US roads are delapedated dirty tracks!

[TV Forces]

There is no way they are not going to the UK, not with how they, unlike the US, stood by them and still heavily bought their records after '67.

The UK sure wasn't nice to Dylan in '66.

[Wirestone]

In 2000, I rode a bus for 10 hours to see Brian play in a neighboring state.

Nine years later, he played literally three blocks from my house.

[Shady]

People really need to calm down, it's obvious an official announcement of European dates is coming sooner or later..

I was really taken aback at first too but we just got to be patient, they won't screw us over

[Wirestone]

People really need to calm down, it's obvious an official announcement of European dates is coming sooner or later..

I was really taken aback at first too but we just got to be patient, they won't screw us over

I don't know. There has been some citing of "tax issues" in the air. I wouldn't be so sure anymore.

[Paulos]

People really need to calm down, it's obvious an official announcement of European dates is coming sooner or later..

I was really taken aback at first too but we just got to be patient, they won't screw us over

I don't know. There has been some citing of "tax issues" in the air. I wouldn't be so sure anymore.

It seems strange to me, 'tax issues' don't stop every other top acts from touring the UK.

[Shady]

People really need to calm down, it's obvious an official announcement of European dates is coming sooner or later..

I was really taken aback at first too but we just got to be patient, they won't screw us over

I don't know. There has been some citing of "tax issues" in the air. I wouldn't be so sure anymore.

I really doubt that

[AndrewHickey]

People really need to calm down, it's obvious an official announcement of European dates is coming sooner or later..

I was really taken aback at first too but we just got to be patient, they won't screw us over

I don't know. There has been some citing of "tax issues" in the air. I wouldn't be so sure anymore.

It seems strange to me, 'tax issues' don't stop every other top acts from touring the UK.

They might stop a lot of them, and we wouldn't know unless we were particular fans of those acts. Ringo Starr, for example, tours the US every year, pretty much, but has only toured the UK once since 1998. I've also heard him say in interviews that he can't spend much time in the UK for tax reasons.

All we actually know for sure are the following facts:
Mike & Bruce have, in the past, tried to arrange UK tours, and then ended up not booking the tours for tax reasons.
There is a ten-day empty slot in the tour dates that were originally announced, right before the continental European dates, which coincides with the Olympics, which Al has spoken about wanting to play.
A few people who have some level of knowledge about the band have publicly said that they're not surprised no UK dates were announced yet, and are unsure whether any will be announced at all.

From this, my guess, based *only* on the above and with *no* other information, is that they have initially pencilled in July 16-25 for unannounced European dates (I'd guess London for the free festival at the Olympics, maybe three other British gigs (Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow or something like that) and then a couple in France and the Netherlands). I'd further guess that they haven't announced those dates yet because they're having problems sorting the tax details out.

Going even further into the realms of speculation, I expect that *if* they can't sort those problems out, and *if* none of the band actually murder any of the other members, and *if* the health of these 70-year-old men holds up, they might try rearranging dates for later in the year, because there are several anglophiles involved.

To be on the safe side, I've bought tickets for Italy, and think it probably a good idea for any British people who can afford to get to a foreign show to buy tickets for one, just in case. I don't think that's panicking, so much as hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

[Gdraft]

Still no news for UK?

[Paulos]

Still no news for UK?

No news, my earlier optimism is beggining to slip.

[Shady]

We ain't dead yet

[Paulos]

Another week and still no news, they're not going to tour here are they? 

[Justin]

They're probably scrambling to work something out for all the UK dates.  I mean, look at the US dates....look at how many shows they've added because of sellouts.  The demand has completely thrown them off so I'm sure they're just trying to figure out how to work out the UK dates in the same manner.  I would guess that the issue is how to pace the entire thing.  A few months ago, this was supposed to be a relatively quick 50 date worldwide tour.  Now, they're doing about 47 shows JUST in the US.  So obviously the original game plan has been thrown out the window...it seems like they're just trying to regroup and shuffle things around to accommodate for the change of plans.

[Shady]

Were playing the waiting game, it's gonna happen

"the waiting is the hardest part"

[Paulos]

I want to be optimistic about UK dates but my inner Phil Cohen is insisting that it isn't going to happen.

[Gdraft]

They're probably scrambling to work something out for all the UK dates.  I mean, look at the US dates....look at how many shows they've added because of sellouts.  The demand has completely thrown them off so I'm sure they're just trying to figure out how to work out the UK dates in the same manner.  I would guess that the issue is how to pace the entire thing.  A few months ago, this was supposed to be a relatively quick 50 date worldwide tour.  Now, they're doing about 47 shows JUST in the US.  So obviously the original game plan has been thrown out the window...it seems like they're just trying to regroup and shuffle things around to accommodate for the change of plans.

I hope you're right.  I'm now banking on UK dates being announced, if I knew they wouldn't be coming to the UK I would've bought some abroad somewhere; it's too late now to get foreign tickets of any decent quality.
If they are working on it I wish they'd say somewhere, I'd rather know they were trying than continually hear nothing.  It's not like they're new to this gig!

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'd like to share everyone's optimism, really I would.

[AndrewHickey]

I hope you're right.  I'm now banking on UK dates being announced, if I knew they wouldn't be coming to the UK I would've bought some abroad somewhere; it's too late now to get foreign tickets of any decent quality.
If they are working on it I wish they'd say somewhere, I'd rather know they were trying than continually hear nothing.  It's not like they're new to this gig!

They *have* said they're working on it - Bruce said they're trying to sort something out. But 'working on it' doesn't mean it'll happen, and I strongly suspect it won't.

I don't know if tickets for the Italian shows have sold out (bought my tickets the day they went on sale), but they're standing venues, and travelling to Italy isn't that much more expensive than travelling from one end of the UK to the other (in fact it may work out cheaper for me to travel to Rome by plane from Manchester than to travel to London by train).

The other thing is that even if they don't announce UK gigs, they may well announce more mainland Europe ones, so you might still be able to get front-row seats for a show in Paris or Amsterdam, say. I'd be very surprised if there were *no* shows in the week before the Italian ones (I'd also bet on that week - the 19th-26th - being when any UK dates would happen if they do).